perceptive after their way as those that work to the act of Perception properly so called that is to the act of seeing made by patterning or imitation But it is well to be observed That although the eye has the quickest action in the Perception of seeing yet is this action most visible not onely by its motions but by the figures of the objects that are represented in the eye for if you look into anothers eye you will plainly perceive therein the picture of your own figure and had other objects but such an optick perception as Animals they would without question observe the same Some will say Those figures in the Eye are made by reflection but reflections cannot make such constant and exact patterns or imitations Others believe it proceeds from pressure and reaction but pressure and reaction being but particular actions cannot make such variety of figures Others again say That the species of the objects pass from the objects to the optick organ and make figures in the air but then the multitude of those figures in the air would make such a confusion as would hinder the species's passing through besides the species being corporeal and proceeding from the object would lessen its quantity or bulk Wherefore my opinion is that the most rare and subtilest parts in the animal sensitive organs do pattern out the figures of exterior objects and that the perception of the exterior animal senses to wit sight hearing tasting touching smelling is certainly made by no other way then by figuring and imitation Q. 12. How the bare patterning out of the Exterior figure of an object can give us an information of its Interior nature My answer is That although our sensitive Perception can go no further then the exterior shape figure and actions of an object yet the rational being a more subtil active and piercing Perception by reason it is more free then the sensitive does not rest in the knowledg of the exterior figure of an object but by its exterior actions as by several effects penetrates into its interior nature and doth probably guess and conclude what its interior figurative motions may be for although the interior and exterior actions of a composed figure be different yet the exterior may partly give a hint or information of the interior I say partly because it is impossible that one finite particular Creature should have a perfect knowledg or perception of all the interior and exterior actions of another particular Creature for example our sensitive Perception patterns out an Animal a Mineral a Vegetable c. we perceive they have the figure of flesh stone wood c. but yet we do not know what is the cause of their being such figures for the interior figurative motions of these Creatures being not subject to the perception of our exterior senses cannot exactly be known nevertheless although our exterior senses have no perception thereof yet their own parts which are concern'd in it as also their adjoining or neighbouring parts may For example a man knows he has a digestion in his body which being an interior action he cannot know by his exterior senses how it is made but those parts of the body where the digestion is performed may know it nay they must of necessity do so because they are concerned in it as being their proper imployment The same may be said of all other particular parts and actions in an Animal body which are like several workmen imployed in the building of a house for although they do all work and labour to one and the same end that is the exstruction of the house and every onemay have some inspection or perception of what his neighbour doth yet each having his peculiar task and employment has also its proper and peculiar knowledg how to perform his own work for a Joiner knows best how to finish and perfect what he has to do and so does a Mason Carpenter Tiler Glasier Stone-cutter Smith c. And thus it is with all composed figures or Creatures which proves That Perception has onely a respect to exterior parts or objects when as self-knowledg is an interior inherent inate and as it were a fixt being for it is the ground and fountain of all other particular knowledges and perceptions even as self-motion is the cause and principle of all other particular actions and although self-knowledg can be without perception yet perception cannot be without self-knowledg for it has its being from self-knowledg as an effect from its cause and as one and the same cause may produce numerous effects so from one self-knowledg proceed numerous perceptions which do vary infinitely according to the various changes of corporeal self-motion In short self-knowledg is the fundamental cause of perception but self-motion the occasional cause Just like Matter and self-motion are the causes of all natural figures for though Perception could not be without self-knowledg yet were there no self-motion there would be no variety of figures and consequently not exterior objects to be perceived Q. 13. How is it possible that several figures can be patterned out by one act of Perception for example how can a man when he sees a statue or a stone pattern out both the exterior shape of the statue the matter which the statue is made of and its colour and all this by one and the same act I answer First it is to be observed That Matter Colour Figure Magnitude c. are all but one thing and therefore they may easily be patterned out by one act of Perception at one and the same time Next I say That no sense is made by one single part but every sense consists of several parts and therefore the perception of one sense may very well pattern out several objects at once for example I see an embroidred bed my eye patterns out both the Velvet Gold Silver Silk Colour and the Workmanship nay superficially the figure of the whole Bed and all this by one act and at one the same time But it is to be observed That one object may have several proprieties which are not all subject to the perception of one sence as for example the smell of an odoriferous body and its colour are not subject to the same sense neither is the hardness or softness roughness or smoothness of its parts subject to the sense of smelling or seeing but each is perceived by such a sense as is proper for such a sort of Perception Nevertheless these different perceptions do not make them to be different bodies for even one and the same attribute or propriety of a body may be patterned out by several senses for example Magnitude or shape of body may be patterned out both by fight and touch which proves that there is a near affinity or alliance betwixt the several senses and that Touch is as it were a general sense which may imitate some other sensitive perceptions The truth is it is as easie for several senses to pattern
but a Repetition of the same figure made by the same corporeal figurative motions and as there is a rational remembrance which is a repetition of the same figures made by the rational corporeal figurative motions so there is also a sensitive remembrance that is a repetition of the same figures made by the sensitive corporeal figurative motions For example I see an object the sensitive motions in the eye pattern out the figure of that object but as soon as the object is removed the perception is altered It may be I see the same object again in a dream or in a phrensie or the like distemper and then the same figure is repeated which was made first by the sensitive motions of the figure of the object when it was really present which is a sensitive remembrance whether the repetition be made after a Pattern or by rote although it is more proper to say that remembrance is onely a repetition of such figures as are made by rote then of those that are made after a Pattern for a repetition of those figures that are made after a Pattern is rather a present perception of a present object when as remembrance is of objects that are absent Q. 22. Whether the rational Parts can quit some Parts and join to others I answer Our sense and reason perceives they do or else there would be no Motion no Separation Composition Dilation Contraction Digestion Production Transformation Infancy Youth Age nor no Action in the World whatsoever And by this it also evident that as I said before particular rational and sensitive parts are not bound to move always together or to keep constantly to the same parts no not in the action of perception for though they most commonly work together when they move regularly yet many times they do not as for Example the sensitive do not always make perceptions of exterior objects but many times make figures by rote as 't is manifest in mad men and such as are in high Feavers and the like distempers which see or hear taste or smell such or such objects when none are present and the Rational Parts being regular do perceive both the sensitive figures made by rote and that there are no such exterior objects really present also the Rational parts make figures by rote and without any outward pattern but such voluntary figures cannot properly be named Perceptions by reason Perceptions are occasioned by outward objects but they are rather voluntary Conceptions Q. 23. If it be so that Parts can divide themselves from some Parts and join to other Parts Why may not the soul do the same and change its Vehicles that is leave such and take other Vehicles I answer Concerning the Natural soul of man which is part of Nature and consists of the purest and subtilest degree of matter which is the Rational it is without question that it is divideable and composeable because it is material and therefore subject to changes and transmutations But as for the supernatural soul because she is spiritual and consequently individable as having no parts and therefore not the propriety of a body which is to have figurative actions it cannot be said of her that she is subject to compositions divisions transmutations c. However put the case the supernatural soul should have those proprieties of a body although no body her self Yet there could be but one infinite soul in one infinite body and as the body did divide so the soul must of necessity do also otherwise one soul would have many bodies and some bodies would be soul-less which would cause a horrid confusion between souls and bodies Wherefore in my opinion Pythagoras's doctrine concerning the transmigration of souls or that one soul can take several bodies is as absurd as that one body can quit one place and acquire an other and so have more places then bodies which if it were thus we might with as much probability affirm that many bodies could be in one place and in the resurrection of bodies there would certainly arise a great dispute between several bodies for one soul and between several souls for one body especially if one body was particularly beloved of more then one soul all which would breed such a war between souls and bodies souls and souls and bodies and bodies that it would put all the world into a confusion and therefore my opinion is that Nature is but one onely infinite body which being self-moving is divideable and composeable and consists of infinite parts of several degrees which are so intermixt that in general they cannot be separated from each other or from the body of Nature and subsist single and by themselves Neither can it be otherwise unless Nature had several bodies but though she has infinite parts yet has she but one infinite body for parts and body are but one Corporeal self-moving self-living and self-knowing Nature And as for the degrees of animate and inanimate matter they are also but parts of that one body of Nature and the various and infinite knowledges perceptions lives c. considered in general are nothing else but the life knowledg and perception of the infinite body of Nature And from hence it follows that one man may have numerous souls as well as he has numerous parts and particles which as long as the whole figure of man lasts their functions and actions are according to the nature of that figure but when the figure of man dissolves which dissolution is nothing else but a change of those motions that were proper to the nature of its figure then all the parts of that figure if they be joined and composed with other parts and figures become not soul-less or life-less but because they consist all of a commixture of animate and inanimate matter they retain life and soul onely the actions of that life and soul are according to the nature of those figures which the parts of the animal body did change into Thus as I have mentioned in my Philosophical Letters no Creature can challenge a particular life and soul to it self but every Creature may have by the dividing and composing-nature of this self-moving Matter more or fewer natural souls and lives And thus much of knowledg and perception which since it is not onely the ground of Natural Philosophy but a subject of a difficult Nature I have insisted somewhat longer upon it then I have done upon any other and endeavoured to clear it as well as I could so that now I hope all that I have declared hitherto will be sufficient to give the ingenious Reader a true information of my opinion thereof and a satisfactory answer to any other scruples that should happen to puzzle his brain I 'le add no more at this present but conclude with a brief repetition of those few Notes concerning the principles which by that small portion of Reason and Judgment that Nature has allowed me I have endeavoured to declare and prove in my
to steal her away which he had the better opportunity to do because her Fathers house was not far from the Sea and she often using to gather shells upon the shore accompanied not with above two or three of her servants it encouraged him the more to execute his design Thus coming one time with a little light Vessel not unlike a Packet-boat mann'd with some few Sea-men and well victualled for fear of some accidents which might perhaps retard their journey to the place where she used to repair he forced her away But when he fancied himself the happiest man of the World he proved to be the most unfortunate for Heaven frowning at his theft raised such a Tempest as they knew not what to do or whither to steer their course so that the Vessel both by its own lightness and the violent motion of the Wind was carried as swift as an Arrow out of a Bow towards the North-pole and in a short time reached the Icy Sea where the wind forced it amongst huge pieces of Ice but being little and light it did by assistance and favour of the Gods to this virtuous Lady so turn and wind through those precipices as if it had been guided by some Experienced Pilot and skilful Mariner But alas those few men which were in it not knowing whither they went nor what was to be done in so strange an adventure and not being provided for so cold a Voyage were all frozen to death the young Lady onely by the light of her Beauty the heat of her Youth and Protection of the Gods remaining alive Neither was it a wonder that the men did freeze to death for they were not onely driven to the very end or point of the Pole of that World but even to another Pole of another World which joined close to it so that the cold having a double strength at the conjunction of those two Poles was insupportable At last the Boat still passing on was forced into another World for it is impossible to round this Worlds Globe from Pole to Pole so as we do from East to West because the Poles of the other World joining to the Poles of this do not allow any further passage to surround the World that way but if any one arrives to either of these Poles he is either forced to return or to enter into another World and least you should scruple at it and think if it were thus those that live at the Poles would either see two Suns at one time or else they would never want the Suns light for six months together as it is commonly believed You must know that each of these Worlds having its own Sun to enlighten it they move each one in their peculiar circles which motion is so just and exact that neither can hinder or obstruct the other for they do not exceed their Tropicks and although they should meet yet we in this world cannot so well perceive them by reason of the brightness of our Sun which being nearer to us obstructs the splendor of the Suns of the other Worlds they being too far off to be discerned by our optick perception except we use very good Telescopes by which skilful Astronomers have often observed two or three Suns at once But to return to the wandering Boat and the distresed Lady she seeing all the Men dead found small comfort in life their bodies which were preserved all that while from putrefaction and stench by the extremity of cold began now to thaw and corrupt whereupon she having not strength enough to fling them over-board was forced to remove out of her small Cabine upon the deck to avoid that nauseous smell and finding the Boat swim between two plains of Ice as a stream that runs betwixt two shores at last perceived land but covered all with snow from which came walking upon the Ice strange Creatures in shape like Bears onely they went upright as men those Creatures coming near the Boat catched hold of it with their Paws that served them instead of hands some two or three of them entred first and when they came out the rest went in one after another at last having viewed and observed all that was in the Boat they spake to each other in a language which the Lady did not understand and having carried her out of the Boat sunk it together with the dead men The Lady now finding her self in so strange a place and amongst such a wonderful kind of Creatures was extreamly strucken with fear and could entertain no other Thoughts but that every moment her life was to be a sacrifice to their cruelty but those Bear-like Creatures how terrible soever they appear'd to her sight yet were they so far from exercising any cruelty upon her that rather they shewed her all civility and kindness imaginable for she being not able to go upon the ice by reason of its slipperiness they took her up in their rough armes and carried her into their City where instead of houses they had Caves under ground and as soon as they enter'd the City both Males and Females young and old flockt together to see this Lady holding up their paws in admiration at last having brought her into a certain large and spacious Cave which they intended for her reception they left her to the custody of the Females who entertained her with all kindness and respect and gave her such victuals as they were used to eat but seeing her constitution neither agreed with the temper of that Climate nor their Diet they were resolved to carry her into another Island of a warmer temper in which were men like Foxes onely walking in an upright shape who received their neighbours the Bear-men with great civility and courtship very much admiring this beauteous Lady and having discoursed some while together agreed at last to make her a present to the Emperour of their world to which end after she had made some short stay in the same place they brought her cross that Island to a large River whose stream run smooth and clear like Chrystal in which were numerous Boats much like our Fox-traps in one whereof she was carried some of the Bearand Fox-men waiting on her and as soon as they had crossed the River they came into an Island where there were Men which had heads beaks and feathers like Wild-geese onely they went in an upright shape like the Bear-men and Fox-men their rumps they carried between their legs their wings were of the same length with their bodies and their tails of an indifferent size trailing after them like a Ladies Garment and after the Bear and Fox-men had declared their intention and design to their neighbours the Geese or Bird-men some of them joined to the rest and attended the Lady through that Island till they came to another great and large River where there was a preparation made of many Boats much like Birds nests onely of a bigger size and having crost that River they
of light I cannot certainly tell The Emperess seeing the insufficiency of those Magnifying-glasses that they were not able to enlarge all sorts of objects asked the Bear-men whether they could not make glasses of a contrary nature to those they had shewed her to wit such as instead of enlarging or magnifying the shape or figure of an object could contract it beneath its natural proportion Which in obedience to her Majesties Commands they did and viewing through one of the best of them a huge and mighty Whale appear'd no bigger then a Sprat nay through some no bigger then a Vinegar-Eele and through their ordinary ones an Elephant seemed no bigger then a Flea a Camel no bigger then a Lowse and an Ostrich no bigger then a Mite To relate all their optick observations through the several sorts of their Glasses would be a tedious work and tire even the most patient Reader wherefore I 'le pass them by onely this was very remarkable and worthy to be taken notice of that notwithstanding their great skil industry and ingenuity in Experimental Philosophy they could yet by no means contrive such Glasses by the help of which they could spy out a Vacuum with all its dimensions nor Immaterial substances Non-beings and Mixt-beings or such as are between something and nothing which they were very much troubled at hoping that yet in time by long study and practice they might perhaps attain to it The Bird-and Bear-men being dismissed the Emperess called both the Syrenes or Fish-men and the Worm-men to deliver their observations which they had made both within the Seas and the Earth First she enquired of the Fish-men whence the saltness of the Sea did proceed To which they answered That there was a volatile salt in those parts of the Earth which as a bosom contain the Waters of the Sea which salt being imbibed by the Sea became fixt and this imbibing motion was that they call'd the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea for said they the rising and swelling of the water is caused by those parts of the volatile salt as are not so easily imbibed which striving to ascend above the water bear it up with such a motion as Man or some other animal Creature in a violent certainly those may be said to be of such a mixt nature that is partly flesh and partly fish But how is it possible replied the Emperess that they should live both in Water and on the Earth since those Animals that live by the respiration of air cannot live within Water and those that live in Water cannot live by the respiration of Air as experience doth sufficiently witness They answered her Majesty That as there were different sorts of Creatures so they had also different ways of respirations for respiration said they was nothing else but a composition and division of parts and the motions of nature being infinitely various it was impossible that all Creatures should have the like motions wherefore it was not necessary that all animal Creatures should be bound to live either by the air or by water onely but according as Nature had ordered it convenient to their species The Emperess seem'd very well satisfied with their answer and desired to be further informed Whether all animal Creatures did continue their species by a successive propagation of particulars and whether in every species the off-spring did always resemble their Generator or Producer both in their interior and exterior figures They answered her Majesty That some species or sorts of Creatures were kept up by a successive propagation of an off-spring that was like the producer but some were not of the first rank said they are all those animals that are of different sexes besides several others but of the second rank are for the most part those we call insects whose production proceds from such causes as have no conformity or likeness with their produced effects as for example Maggots bred out of Cheese and several others generated out of Earth Water and the like But said the Emperess there is some likeness between Maggots and Cheese for Cheese has no blood and so neither have Maggots besides they have almost the same taste which Cheese has This proves nothing answered they for Maggots have a visible local progressive motion which Cheese hath not The Emperess replied That when all the Cheese was turned into Maggots it might be said to have local progressive motion They answered That when the Cheese by its own figurative motions was changed into Maggots it was no more Cheese The Emperess confessed that she observed Nature was infinitely various in her works and that though the species of Creatures did continue yet their particulars were subject to infinite changes But since you have informed me said she of the various sorts and productions of animal Creatures I desire you to tell me what you have observed of their sensitive perceptions Truly answered they Your Majesty puts a very hard question to us and we shall hardly be able to give a satisfactory answer to it for there are many different sorts of Creatures which as they have all different perceptions so they have also different organs which our senses are not able to discover onely in an Oyster-shell we have with admiration observed that the common sensorium of the Oyster lies just at the closing of the shells where the pressure and reaction may be perceived by the opening and shutting of the shells every tide After all this the Emperess desired the Worm-men to give her a true Relation how frost was made upon the Earth To which they answered That it was made much after the manner and description of the Fish and Bird-men concerning the Congelation of Water into Ice and Snow by a commixture of saline and acid particles which relation added a great light to the Ape-men who were the Chymists concerning their Chymical principles Salt Sulphur and Mercury But said the Emperess if it be so it will require an infinite multitude of saline particles to produce such a great quantity of Ice Frost and Snow besides said she when Snow Ice and Frost turn again into their former principle I would fain know what becomes of those saline particles But neither the Wor-men nor the Fish-and Bird-men could give her an answer to it Then the Emperess enquired of them the reason Why Springs were not as salt as the Sea is also why Springs did ebb and flow To which some answered That the ebbing and flowing of some Springs was caused by hollow Caverns within the Earth where the Sea-water crowding thorow did thrust forward and draw back-ward the Spring-water according to its own way of ebbing and flowing but others said That it proceeded from a small proportion of saline and acid particles which the Spring-water imbibed from the Earth and although it was not so much as to be perceived by the sense of Taste yet was it enough to cause an ebbing and flowing motion And as for the Spring-water being fresh
they gave according to their observation this following reason There is said they a certain heat within the bowels of the Earth proceeding from its swift circular motion upon its own axe which heat distills the rarest parts of the Earth into a fresh and insipid water which water being through the pores of the Earth conveighed into a place where it may break forth without resistance or obstruction causes Springs and Fountains and these distilled waters within the Earth do nourish and refresh the grosser and dryer parts thereof This Relation confirmed the Emperess in the opinion concerning the motion of the Earth and the fixedness of the Sun as the Bird-men had informed her and then she asked the Worm-men whether Minerals and Vegetables were generated by the same heat that is within the bowels of the Earth To which they could give her no positive answer onely this they affirmed That heat and cold were not the primary producing causes of either Vegetables or Minerals or other sorts of Creatures but onely effects and to prove this our assertion said they we have observed that by change of some sorts of corporeal motions that which is now hot will become cold and what is now cold will grow hot but the hottest place of all we find to be the Center of the Earth Neither do we observe that the torrid Zone does contain so much Gold and Silver as the Temperate nor is there great store of Iron and Lead wheresoever there is Gold for these metals are most found in colder climates towards either of the Poles This observation the Emperess commanded them to confer with her Chymists the Ape-men to let them know that Gold was not produced by a violent but a temperate degree of heat She asked further Whether Gold could not be made by Art They answered That they could not certainly tell her Majesty but if it was possible to be done they thought Tin Lead Brass Iron and Silver to be the fittest metals for such an Artificial transmutation Then she asked them Whether Art could produce Iron Tin Lead or Silver They answered not in their opinion Then I perceive replied the Emperess that your judgments are very irregular since you believe that Gold which is so fixt a metal that nothing has been found as yet which could occasion a dissolution of its interior figure may be made by Art and not Tin Lead Iron Copper or Silver which yet are so far weaker and meaner metals then Gold is But the Worm-men excused themselves that they were ignorant in that Art and that such questions belonged more properly to the Ape-men which were Her Majesties Chymists Then the Emperess asked them Whether by their sensitive perceptions they could observe the interior corporeal figurative motions both of Vegetables and Minerals They answer'd That their senses could perceive them after they were produced but not before Nevertheless said they although the interior figurative motions of natural Creatures are not subject to the exterior animal sensitive perceptions yet by their rational perception they may judg of them and of their productions if they be regular Whereupon the Emperess commanded the Bear-men to lend them some of their best Microscopes at which the Bear-men smilingly answered her Majesty that their Glasses would do them but little service in the bowels of the Earth because there was no light for said they our Glasses do onely represent exterior objects according to the various reflections and positions of light and wheresoever light is wanting the glasses wil do no good To which the Worm-men replied that although they could not say much of refractions reflections inflections and the like yet were they not blind even in the bowels of the Earth for they could see the several sorts of Minerals as also minute Animals that lived there which minute animal Creatures were not blind neither but had some kind of sensitive perception that was as serviceable to them as sight taste smell touch hearing c. was to other animal Creatures By which it is evident That Nature has been as bountiful to those Creatures that live under ground or in the bowels of the Earth as to those that live upon the surface of the Earth or in the Air or in Water But howsoever proceeded the Worm-men although there is light in the bowels of the Earth yet your Microscopes will do but little good there by reason those Creatures that live under ground have not such an optick sense as those that live on the surface of the Earth wherefore unless you had such glasses as are proper for their perception your Microscopes will not be any ways advantagious to them The Emperess seem'd well pleased with this answer of the Worm-men and asked them further whether Minerals and all other Creatures within the Earth were colourless At which question they could not forbear laughing and when the Emperess asked the reason why they laught We most humbly beg your Majesties pardon replied they for we could not chuse but laugh when we heard of a colourless body Why said the Emperess colour is onely an accident which is an immaterial thing and has no being of it self but in an other body Those replied they that informed your Majesty thus surely their rational motions were very irregular For how is it possible that a natural nothing can have a being in Nature If it be no substance it cannot have a being and if no being it is nothing Wherefore the distinction between subsisting of it self and subsisting in another body is a meer nicety and non-sense for there is nothing in Nature that can subsist of or by it self I mean singly by reason all parts of Nature are composed in one body and though they may be infinitely divided commixed and changed in their particulars yet in general parts cannot be separated from parts as long as Nature lasts nay we might as probably affirm that Infinite Nature would be as soon destroyed as that one Atome could perish and therefore your Majesty may firmly believe that there is no body without colour nor no colour without body for colour figure place magnitude and body are all but one thing without any separation or abstraction from each other The Emperess was so wonderfully taken with this discourse of the Worm-men that she not onely pardoned the rudeness they committed in laughing at first at her question but yielded a full assent to their opinion which she thought the most rational that ever she had heard yet and then proceeding in her questions enquired further whether they had observed any seminal principles within the Earth free from all dimensions and qualities which produced Vegetables Minerals and the like To which they answered That concerning the seeds of Minerals their sensitive perceptions had never observed any but Vegetables had certain seeds out of which they were produced Then she asked whether those seeds of Vegetables lost their species that is were annihilated in the production of their off-spring To which they
answered That by an annihilation nothing could be produced and that the seeds of Vegetables were so far from being annihilated in their productions that they did rather numerously increase and multiply for the division of one seed said they does produce numbers of seeds out of it self But replied the Empress A particular part cannot increase of it self 'T is true answer'd they but they increase not barely of themselves but by joining and commixing with other parts which do assist them in their productions and by way of imitation form or figure their own parts into such or such particulars Then I pray inform me said the Emperess what disguise those seeds put on and how they do conceal themselves in their transmutations They answered That seeds did no ways disguise or conceal but rather divulge themselves in the multiplication of their off-spring onely they did hide and conceal themselves from their sensitive perceptions so that their figurative and productive motions were not perceptible by animal Creatures Again the Emperess asked them whether there were any Non-beings within the Earth To which they answered That they never heard of any such thing and that if her Majesty would know the truth thereof she must ask those Creatures that are called Immaterial Spirits which had a great affinity with Non-beings and perhaps could give her a satisfactory answer to this question Then she desired to be informed what opinion they had of the beginning of forms They told her Majesty That they did not understand what she meant by this expression For said they there is no beginning in Nature no not of Particulars by reason Nature is Eternal and Infinite and her particulars are subject to infinite changes and transmutations by vertue of their own corporeal figurative self-motions so that there 's nothing new in Nature nor properly a beginning of any thing The Emperess seem'd well satisfied with all those answers and inquired further whether there was no Art used by those Creatures that live within the Earth Yes answered they for the several parts of the Earth do join and assist each other in composition or framing of such or such particulars and many times there are factions and divisions which cause productions of mixt species's as for example weeds instead of sweet flowers and useful fruits but Gardeners and Husbandmen use often to decide their quarrels and cause them to agree which though it shews a kindness to the differing parties yet 't is a great prejudice to the Worms and other animal Creatures that live under ground for it most commonly causes their dissolution and ruine at best they are driven out of their habitations What said the Emperess are not Worms produced out of the Earth Their production in general answered they is like the production of all other natural Creatures proceeding from the corporeal figurative motions of Nature but as for their particular productions they are according to the nature of their species some are produced out of flowers some out of roots some out of fruits some out of ordinary Earth Then they are very ungrateful Children replied the Emperess that they feed on their own Parents which gave them life Their life answered they is their own and not their Parents for no part or creature of Nature can either give or take away life but parts do onely assist and join with parts either in the dissolution or production of other parts and Creatures After this and several other Conferences which the Emperess held with the Worm-men she dismissed them and having taken much satisfaction in several of their answers encouraged them in their studies and observations Then she made a convocation of her Chymists the Ape-men and commanded them to give her an account of the several Transmutations which their Art was able to produce They begun first with a long and tedious discourse concerning the Primitive Ingredients of Natural bodies and how by their Art they had found out the principles out of which they consist But they did not all agree in their opinions for some said That the Principles of all natural bodies were the four Elements Fire Air Water Earth out of which they were composed Others rejected this Elementary commixture and said There were many bodies out of which none of the four Elements could be extracted by any degree of Fire whatsoever and that on the other side there were divers bodies whose resolution by fire reduced them into more then four different ingredients and these affirmed that the onely principles of natural bodies were Salt Sulphur and Mercury Others again declared That none of the forementioned could be called the True principles of natural bodies but that by their industry and pains which they had taken in the Art of Chymistry they had discovered that all natural bodies were produced but from one Principle which was Water for all Vegetables Minerals and Animals said they are nothing else but simple water distinguished into various figures by the vertue of their seeds But after a great many debates and contentions about this subject the Emperess being so much tired that she was not able to hear them any longer imposed a general silence upon them and then declared her self in this following discourse I am too sensible of the pains you have taken in the Art of Chymistry to discover the principles of natural bodies and wish they had been more profitably bestowed upon some other then such experiments for both by my own contemplation and the observations which I have made by my rational and sensitive perception upon Nature and her works I find that Nature is but one Infinite self-moving body which by the vertue of its self-motion is divided into infinite parts which parts being restless undergo perpetual changes and transmutations by their infinite compositions and divisions Now if this be so as surely according to regular sense and reason it appears no otherwise it is in vain to look for primary ingredients or constitutive principles of natural bodies since there is no more but one Universal principle of Nature to wit self-moving Matter which is the onely cause of all natural effects Next I desire you to consider that Fire is but a particular Creature or effect of Nature and occasions not onely different effects in several bodies but on some bodies has no power at all witness Gold which never could be brought yet to change its interior figure by the art of Fire and if this be so Why should you be so simple as to believe that fire can shew you the principles of Nature and that either the four Elements or Water onely or Salt Sulphur and Mercury all which are no more but particular effects and Creatures of Nature should be the Primitive ingredients or Principles of all natural bodies Wherefore I will not have you to take more pains and waste your time in such fruitless attempts but be wiser hereafter and busie your selves with such Experiments as may be beneficial to the publick The Emperess having
thus declared her mind to the Ape-men and given them better Instructions then perhaps they expected not knowing that her Majesty had such great and able judgment in Natural Philosophv had several conferences with them concerning Chymical Preparations which for brevities sake I 'le forbear to rehearse Amongst the rest she asked how it came that the Imperial Race appear'd so young and yet was reported to have lived so long some of them two some three and some four hundred years and whether it was by Nature or a special Divine blessing To which they answered That there was a certain Rock in the parts of that World which contained the Golden Sands which Rock was hollow within and did produce a Gum that was a hundred years before it came to its full strength and perfection this Gum said they if it be held in a warm hand will dissolve into an Oyl the effects whereof are following It being given every day for some certain time to an old decayed man in the bigness of a little Pea will first make him spit for a week or more after this it will cause Vomits of Flegm and after that it will bring forth by vomits humors of several colours first of a pale yellow then of a deep yellow then of a green and lastly of a black colour and each of these humors have a several taste some are fresh some salt some sower some bitter and so forth neither do all these Vomits make them sick but they come out on a sudden and unawares without any pain or trouble to the patient And after it hath done all these mentioned effects and clear'd both the stomack and several other parts of the body then it works upon the brain and brings forth of the nose such kind of humors as it did out of the mouth and much after the same manner then it will purge by stool then by urine then by sweat and lastly by bleeding at the nose and the Emerodes all which effects it will perform within the space of six weeks or a little more for it does not work very strongly but gently and by degrees Lastly when it has done all this it will make the body break out into a thick scab and cause both Hair Teeth and Nails to come off which scab being arrived to its full maturity opens first along the back and comes off all in a piece like an armour and all this is done within the space of four months After this the Patient is wrapt into a sear-cloth prepared of certain Gums and Juices wherein he continues until the time of nine Months be expired from the first beginning of the cure which is the time of a Childs formation in the womb In the mean while his diet is nothing else but Eagles-eggs and Hinds-milk and after the Sear-cloth is taken away he will appear of the age of Twenty both in shape and strength The weaker sort of this Gum is soveraign in healing of wounds and curing of slight distempers But this is also to be observed that none of the Imperial race does use any other drink but Lime-water or water in which Lime-stone is immerged their meat is nothing else but Fowl of several sorts their recreations are many but chiefly Hunting This Relation amazed the Emperess very much for though in the world she came from she had heard great reports of the Philosophers-stone yet had she not heard of any that had ever found it out which made her believe that it was but a Chymera she called also to mind that there had been in the same world a man who had a little Stone which cured all kinds of Diseases outward and inward according as it was applied and that a famous Chymist had found out a certain liquor called Alkahest which by the vertue of its own fire consumed all diseases but she had never heard of a Medicine that could renew old Age and render it beautiful vigorous and strong Nor would she have so easily believed it had it been a medicine prepared by Art for she knew that Art being Natures Changeling was not able to produce such a powerful effect but being that the Gum did grow naturally she did not so much scruple at it for she knew that Natures Works are so various and wonderful that no particular Creature is able to trace her ways The Conferences of the Chymists being finished the Emperess made an Assembly of her Galenical Physicians her Herbalists and Anatomists and first she enquired of her Herbalists the particular effects of several Herbs and Drugs and whence they proceeded To which they answered that they could for the most part tell her Majesty the vertues and operations of them but the particular causes of their effects were unknown onely thus much they could say that their operations and vertues were generally caused by their proper inherent corporeal figurative motions which being infinitely various in Infinite Nature did produce infinite several effects And it is observed said they that Herbs and Drugs are as wise in their operations as Men in their words and actions nay wiser and their effects are more certain then Men in their opinions for though they cannot discourse like Men yet have they sense and reason as well as Men for the discursive faculty is but a particular effect of sense and reason in some particular Creatures to wit Men and not a principle of Nature and argues often more folly then wisdom The Emperess asked Whether they could not by a composition and commixture of other Drugs make them work other effects then they did used by themselves They answered That they could make them produce artificial effects but not alter their inherent proper and particular natures Then the Emperess commanded her Anatomists to dissect such kinds of Creatures as are called Monsters But they answered her Majesty That it would be but an unprofitable and useless work and hinder their better imployments for when we dissect dead Animals said they it is for no other end but to observe what defects or distempers they had that we may cure the like in living ones so that all our care and industry concerns onely the preservation of Mankind but we hope your Majesty will not preserve Monsters which are most commonly destroyed except it be for novelty neither will the dissection of Monsters prevent the errors of Natures irregular actions for by dissecting some we cannot prevent the production of others so that our pains and labour will be to no purpose unless to satisfie the vain curiosities of inquisitive men The Emperess replied That such dissections would be very beneficial to Experimental Philosophers If Experimental Philosophers answer'd they do spend their time in such useless inspections they waste it in vain and have nothing but their labour for their pains Lastly her Majesty had some Conferences with the Galenick Physicians about several Diseases and amongst the rest desired to know the cause and nature of Apoplexy and the spotted Plague They answered
before a true and profitable Relation As for relation replied the Duchess our Poets defie and condemn it into a Chimney-corner fitter for old Womens Tales then Theatres Why said the Emperess do not your Poets actions comply with their judgments for their Plays are composed of old stories either of Greek or Roman or some new-found World The Duchess answered her Majesty that it was true that all or most of their Plays were taken out of old Stories but yet they had new actions which being joined to old stories together with the addition of new Prologues Scenes Musick and Dancing made new Plays After this both the Souls went to the Court where all the Royal Family was together attended by the chief of the Nobles of their Dominions which made a very magnificent show and when the soul of the Emperess viewed the King and Queen she seemed to be in amaze which the Duchess's soul perceiving asked the Emperess how she liked the King the Queen and all the Royal Race She answered that in all the Monarchs she had seen in that World she had not found so much Majesty and affability mixt so exactly together that none did overshadow or eclipse the other and as for the Queen she said that Vertue sate Triumphant in her face and Piety was dwelling in her heart and that all the Royal Family seem'd to be endued with a Divine splendor but when she had heard the King discourse she believ'd that Mercury and Apollo had been his Celestial instructors and my dear Lord and Husband added the Duchess has been his Earthly Governour But after some short stay in the Court the Duchess's soul grew very Melancholy the Emperess asking the cause of her sadness She told her that she had an extreme desire to converse with the soul of her noble Lord and dear Husband and that she was impatient of a longer stay The Emperess desired the Duchess to have but patience so long until the King the Queen and the Royal Family were retired and then she would bear her company to her Lord and Husbands Soul who at that time lived in the Country some 112 miles off which she did and thus these two souls went towards those parts of the Kingdom where the Duke of Newcastle was But one thing I forgot all this while which is That although thoughts are the natural language of souls yet by reason souls cannot travel without Vehicles they use such language as the nature and propriety of their Vehicles require and the Vehicles of those two souls being made of the purest and finest sort of air and of a humane shape this purity and fineness was the cause that they could neither be seen nor heard by any humane Creature when as had they been of some grosser sort of Air the sound of that Airs language would have been as perceptible as the blowing of Zephyrus And now to return to my former Story when the Emperess's and Duchess's Soul were travelling into Nottingham-shire for that was the place where the Duke did reside passing through the forrest of Sherewood the Emperess's soul was very much delighted with it as being a dry plain and woody place very pleasant to travel in both in Winter and Summer for it is neither much dirty nor dusty at no time at last they arrived at Welbeck a House where the Duke dwell'd surrounded all with Wood so close and full that the Emperess took great pleasure and delight therein and told the Duchess she never had observed more wood in so little a compass in any part of the Kingdom she had passed through The truth is said she there seems to be more wood on the Seas she meaning the Ships then on the Land The Duchess told her the reason was that there had been a long Civil War in that Kingdom in which most of the best Timber-trees and Principal Palaces were ruined and destroyed and my dear Lord and Husband said she has lost by it half his Woods besides many Houses Land and moveable Goods so that all the loss out of his particular Estate did amount to above half a Million of Pounds I wish said the Emperess he had some of the Gold that is in the Blazing-world to repair his losses The Duchess most humbly thank'd her Imperial Majesty for her kind wishes but said she wishes will not repair his ruines however God has given my Noble Lord and Husband great Patience by which he bears all his losses and misfortunes At last they enter'd into the Dukes House an habitation not so magnificent as useful and when the Emperess saw it Has the Duke said she no other house but this Yes answered the Duchess some five miles from this place he has a very fine Castle called Bolesover That place then said the Emperess I desire to see Alas replied the Duchess it is but a naked house and uncloath'd of all Furniture However said the Emperess I may see the manner of its structure and building That you may replied the Duchess and as they were thus discoursing the Duke came out of the House into the Court to see his Horses of mannage whom when the Duchess's soul perceived she was so overjoyed that her aereal Vehicle became so splendorous as if it had been enlightned by the Sun by which we may perceive that the passions of Souls or Spirits can alter their bodily Vehicles Then these two Ladies Spirits went close to him but he could not perceive them and after the Emperess had observed the Art of Mannage she was much pleased with it and commended it as a noble pastime and an exercise fit and proper for noble and heroick Persons But when the Duke was gone into the house again those two Souls followed him where the Emperess observing that he went to the exercise of the Sword and was such an excellent and unparallell'd Master thereof she was as much pleased with that exercise as she was with the former But the Duchess's soul being troubled that her dear Lord and Husband used such a violent exercise before meat for fear of overheating himself without any consideration of the Emperess's soul left her aereal Vehicle and entred into her Lord. The Emperess's soul perceiving this did the like And then the Duke had three Souls in one Body and had there been but some such Souls more the Duke would have been like the Grand-Signior in his Seraglio onely it would have been a Platonick Seraglio But the Dukes soul being wise honest witty complaisant and noble afforded such delight and pleasure to the Emperess's soul by her conversation that these two souls became enamoured of each other which the Duchess's soul perceiving grew jealous at first but then considering that no Adultery could be committed amongst Platonick Lovers and that Platonism was Divine as being derived from Divine Plato cast forth of her mind that Idea of Jealousie Then the Conversation of these three souls was so pleasant that it cannot be expressed for the Dukes soul entertained the